Tracheostomy versus Endotracheal Intubation Prior to Admission to a Respiratory Care Center: A Retrospective Analysis

Immersive virtual reality (VR) training increases the self-efficacy of in-hospital healthcare providers and patient families regarding tracheostomy-related knowledge and care skills: A prospective pre-post study

BACKGROUND

Virtual reality (VR)-based simulation in hospital settings facilitates the acquisition of skills without compromising patient safety. Despite regular text-based training, a baseline survey of randomly selected healthcare providers revealed deficiencies in their knowledge, confidence, comfort, and care skills regarding tracheostomy. This prospective pre-post study compared the effectiveness of regular text- and VR-based intervention modules in training healthcare providers' self-efficacy in tracheostomy care skills.

METHODS

Between January 2018 and January 2020, 60 healthcare providers, including physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists, were enrolled. For the intervention, a newly developed head-mounted display (HMD) and web VR materials were implemented in training and clinical services. Subsequently, in-hospital healthcare providers were trained using either text or head-mounted display virtual reality (HMD-VR) materials in the regular and intervention modules, respectively. For tracheostomy care skills, preceptors directly audited the performance of trainees and provided feedback.

RESULTS

At baseline, the degree of trainees' agreement with the self-efficacy-related statements, including the aspects of familiarity, confidence, and anxiety about tracheostomy-related knowledge and care skills, were not different between the control and intervention groups. At follow-up stage, compared with the regular group, a higher percentage of intervention group' trainees reported that they are "strongly agree" or "somewhat agree" that the HMD-VR simulation increases their self-efficacy, including the aspects of familiarity and confidence, and reduced their anxiety about tracheostomy-related knowledge and care skills. After implementation, a higher degree of trainees' average satisfaction with VR-based training and VR materials was observed in the intervention group than in the regular group. Most reported that VR materials enabled accurate messaging and decreased anxiety. The increasing trend of the average written test and hands-on tracheostomy care skills scores among the intervention group trainees was significant compared to those in the regular group. The benefits of HMD-VR simulations and web-VR material-based clinical services for in-hospital healthcare providers and patient families persisted until 3 to 4 weeks later.

CONCLUSION

The current study suggests that VR materials significantly enhance trainees' self-efficacy (increased familiarity, increased confidence, and reduced anxiety) and their satisfaction with the training, while motivating them to use acquired knowledge and skills in clinical practice.

Tracheostomy and Improvement in Utilization of Hospital Resources During SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Surge

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected millions across the world. Significant patient surges have caused severe resource allocation challenges in personal protective equipment, medications, and staffing. The virus produces bilateral lung infiltrates causing significant oxygen depletion and respiratory failure thus increasing the need for ventilators. The patients who require ventilation are often requiring prolonged ventilation and depleting hospital resources. Tracheostomy is often utilized in patients requiring prolonged ventilation, and early tracheostomy in critical care patients has been shown in some studies to improve a variety of factors including intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, ventilation weaning, and decreased sedation medication utilization. In a patient surge setting, as long as adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) is available to minimize spread to healthcare workers, early tracheostomy may be a beneficial management of these patients. Decreasing sedative medication utilization may help prevent shortages in future waves of infection and improve patient-provider communication as patients are more alert. Tracheostomy care is easier than endotracheal intubation and may have decreased viral aerosolization risk, particularly if repeat intubation is necessary after a weaning trial. Additionally, tracheostomy patients can be monitored with less staff, decreasing total healthcare worker exposure to infection. To manage risk of exposure, coordination of ventilation controlled by an anesthesiologist or a critical care physician with a surgeon during the procedure can minimize aerosolization to the team. Risk management and resource allocation is of the utmost importance in any global crisis and procedures must be appropriately planned and benefits to patients, as well as minimized exposure to healthcare providers, must be considered. Early tracheostomy could be a beneficial procedure for severe SARS-CoV-2 patients to minimize long-term virus aerosolization and exposure for healthcare workers while decreasing sedation, allowing for earlier transfer out of the ICU, and improving hospital resource utilization.

Transitional Percentage of Minute Volume as a Novel Predictor of Weaning from Mechanical Ventilation in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Failure

PURPOSE

Some patients with respiratory failure fail initial weaning attempts and need prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV). Prolonged MV is associated with many complications and consumption of heathcare resources. Objective weaning indices help staffs to identify high-potential patients for weaning from the MV. Traditional weaning indices are not reliable in clinical practice. Transitional percentage of minute volume (TMV%) is a new index of the work of breathing. This study aimed to investigate the utility of TMV% in the prediction of weaning potential.

METHODS

This study was prospectively performed including all patients with prolonged MV. Researchers recorded their demographics, TMV%, respiratory parameters, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, and laboratory data upon arrival at the respiratory care center. The factors associated with successful weaning were analyzed.

RESULTS

Out of the 120 patients included, 84 (70.0%) were successfully weaned from MV. Traditional weaning indices such as rapid shallow breathing index could not predict the weaning outcome. TMV% was a valuable parameter as patients with a lower TMV%, higher tidal volume, higher hemoglobin, lower blood urea nitrogen, and lower Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores had a higher rate of successful weaning. TMV%, tidal volume, and HCO3^- levels were independent predictors of successful weaning, and the area under the curve was .79 in the logistic regression model.

CONCLUSION

TMV% is a novel and effective predictor of successful weaning. Patients with lower TMV% had a higher MV weaning outcome. Once patients with a high potential for successful weaning are identified, they should be aggressively weaned from MV as soon as possible.

CLINICAL TRIALS GOVERNMENT IDENTIFIER

NCT033480.

The effect of tracheostomy delay time on outcome of patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation: A STROBE-compliant retrospective cohort study

The tracheostomy timing for patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) was usually delayed in our country. Both physician decision time and tracheostomy delay time (time from physician's suggestion of tracheostomy to procedure day) affect tracheostomy timing. The effect of tracheostomy delay time on outcome has not yet been evaluated before.Patients older than 18 years who underwent tracheostomy for PMV were retrospectively collected. The outcomes between different timing of tracheostomy (early: ≤14 days; late: >14 days of intubation) were compared. We also analyzed the effect of physician decision time, tracheostomy delay time, and procedure type on clinical outcomes.A total of 134 patients were included. There were 57 subjects in the early tracheostomy group and 77 in the late group. The early group had significantly shorter mechanical ventilation duration, shorter intensive care unit stays, and shorter hospital stays than late group. There was no difference in weaning rate, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and in-hospital mortality. The physician decision time (8.1 ± 3.4 vs 18.2 ± 8.1 days, P < .001) and tracheostomy delay time (2.1 ± 1.9 vs 6.1 ± 6.8 days, P < .001) were shorter in the early group than in the late group. The tracheostomy delay time [odds ratio (OR) = 0.908, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.832-0.991, P = .031) and procedure type (percutaneous dilatation, OR = 2.489, 95% CI = 1.057-5.864, P = .037) affected successful weaning. Platelet count of >150 × 10/μL (OR = 0.217, 95% CI = 0.051-0.933, P = .043) and procedure type (percutaneous dilatation, OR = 0.252, 95% CI = 0.069-0.912, P = .036) were associated with in-hospital mortality.Shorter tracheostomy delay time is associated with higher weaning success. Percutaneous dilatation tracheostomy is associated with both higher weaning success and lower in-hospital mortality.